Laura Cameron: Don't give compensation culture the last rites yet

Lord Young is on the verge of revealing the much-anticipated results of his investigation of health and safety rules. The research was instigated by David Cameron back in June with a stated aim of reviewing the operation of health and safety laws and the growth of compensation culture.

The Prime Minister said at the time: "We need a sensible new approach that makes clear these laws are intended to protect people, not overwhelm businesses with red tape." However, if UK plc was hoping for a "bonfire of risk assessments", they are likely to be sorely disappointed.

If persistent rumours are to be believed, it seems that Lord Young is likely to recommend the introduction of exemptions to the Health and Safety Act which will lessen the burden on local authorities and the emergency services.

The political logic behind this is obvious: the aim is to reduce the number of damaging headlines around what appear to be overly restrictive health and safety practices. There also seem to be proposals on the table to alter advertising practices and reduce the ability of "no win, no fee" lawyers to bring spurious claims.

However, at the time of writing it does not seem that there will be much in Lord Young's findings to reassure business that compensation culture is a thing of the past, or that much will change significantly.

From a legal perspective, a great deal of attention is likely to be focused on attempts to curb "compensation culture" and the notion that "where there's blame, there's a claim". However, some of the mooted changes seem fairly cosmetic and are unlikely to tackle the ultimate causes of this issue, which are wrapped up in the very fabric of the legal system.

The problem is that health and safety cannot be looked at in isolation - it pulls at a thread which leads to all sorts of contentious issues; issues on which Lord Justice Jackson made recommendations in his report on costs in civil litigation, which was delivered earlier this year.

If fully implemented the Jackson proposals, more so than the Young ones, are likely to have an impact on business by reducing the cost of fighting spurious compensation claims.

Away from the legal world, perhaps the group most likely to be disappointed by Lord Young's report is the construction sector. A number of hazardous elements inherent in this type of work, such as working at height and the use of heavy machinery, mean that it is rightly closely monitored. It's worth noting, however, that according to the Health and Safety Executive's own figures, the construction sector's record in this area is steadily improving.

The rate of fatal injuries in construction has decreased by 34 per cent in the past three years and has shown a general downward trend over the past decade. Further, since 1999/2000, the rate of reported major injuries to employees in construction has also fallen.

The evidence suggests that the message is getting through to the industry.Against this backdrop it is disappointing that more has not been done to reward the sector for its progress, particularly through reducing the costs - in terms of time and finance - of compliance for operators who need to remain competitive both at home and abroad during challenging times.

So what of the future? Well, we can only hope that Lord Young's recommendations are more radical and far reaching than has been trailed. The reality is that, in a time of austerity and public spending cuts, the government is less likely to take on costly legal actions to tackle compliance failures.

This is particularly the case where the outcome is questionable, both in terms of the result of any proceedings and the ability of businesses to pay fines.

For these reasons it seems fair to say that the Health and Safety Executive may need to change its modus operandi to fulfil its remit. Nowadays, the financial and reputational risks associated with a serious breach of health and safety, and the impact on corporate social responsibility records (increasingly influential in public and private sector purchasing decisions), mean that few responsible businesses would fail to take health and safety issues seriously.

• Laura Cameron is a partner in the litigation and dispute resolution practice at McGrigors. She is also the Scottish chair of the Health and Safety Lawyers Association.